The Gallery: Coke Wisdom O'Neal

In his most recent series of photographs it appears the artist has built a HUGE plywood cabinet (In his back yard? Where is this??) and photographed his sitters composed inside it. I can't get enough of these. The playful scale, the compositions, the patterning in the plywood, the play of light inside the box.

Jessica Sue Layton 2005
36 x 29 inches

Misty 2005
36 x 29 inches

Untitled (25) 2005
51 x 41 inches

These came after a series of "found portraits" taken of medicine cabinets (get the connection?).

Stranger (Cranberry) 2003
24 x 14 1/2 inches

Friend of a Friend (Mario) 2004
29 x 16 inches

Coke O'Neal is represented by Mixed Greens which has a terrific website where you can see more of this work including portraits of cinematic icons -- photographs of actors he took directly off the tv-screen (hmm, people inside another kind of box…).